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Paramount Recruits Directors For Pet Sematary Remake

Paramount has officially hired directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer to helm a remake of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. The year of 2017 has officially seen a resurgence in well-received King horror adaptations, from the box office and critical smash that was IT to Netflix’s positively reviewed Gerald’s Game and 1922 adaptations. Naturally, this has inspired studios to adapt (and readapt) other King properties to the big and small screen, ranging from Hulu’s upcoming Castle Rock show and a rumored Revival adaptation by New Mutants director Josh Boone.

With this in mind, it was seemingly only a matter of time until a remake of Pet Sematary dug its way out of the grave, especially with IT director Andrés Muschietti expressing interest in possibly adapting the film after finishing up IT: Chapter Two. While that’s certainly off the table now with Kolsch and Widmyer on board, Paramount is finally going all in on a remake of the cult 1989 classic, based on King’s novel of the same name and centered on a pet cemetery that brings dead animals (and humans) buried in it back to life – though vastly more evil than before.

Per Variety, Paramount has hired Kolsch and Widmyer to direct a second adaptation of Pet Sematary. Matt Greenberg and David Kajganich have written a script for the remake, though given how early into the process development is, no other key information is currently available. Other helmers considered beforehand were Sean Carter (who’s currently writing and directing another King adaptation in Suffer the Little Children) and 47 Meters Down director Johannes Roberts.

For the uninitiated, Kolsch and Widmyer previously wrote and directed 2014 horror film Starry Eyes, which was well received by critics due to the duo’s directing style. That film was also partially funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, which certainly means that the pair of directors have somewhat of a following already. These elements certainly suggest that Paramount has made a smart decision in hiring Kolsch and Widmyer to adapt Pet Sematary and, should the film end up doing as well as the other aforementioned King adaptations, could catapult the pair into helming other big projects.

Regardless, some fans may be worried about the influx of King adaptations given the sheer number of poorly received King films in years prior. While this is certainly an understandable worry, at least Pet Sematary seems to be in capable hands with Kolsch and Widmyer (even if it’s hard not to imagine what Guillermo del Toro’s version of Pet Sematary would have looked like).